June 21, 2006

by D.A.A.A. CollectiveThings haven’t been going that well for Modesto Save our State so far. Their protest planned on the 24th of June, as they expected, as drawn several groups planning on countering them. Both the Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians (DAAA) Collective, an anarchist community organizing group, and Aztlan Rising, a Chicano/Indigenous revolutionary group, have teamed up to fight these border enforcing, neo-xenophobes. Modesto Save Our State, while stating on online forums, that they have passed out flyers in several places, (the author has yet to see any), has mostly stuck to posting on online forums, largely the SOS forum, and the Modesto Bee online forum. Meanwhile, the opposition has been out in the community, getting flyers out, talking to people, and gaining support.

Modesto Save Our State has generally stuck to the basic critiques of immigration, “cultural influx is hurting America”, (aka racist xenophobia), and “printing things in Spanish costs the American taxpayer”, (aka, hospital visits for immigrants bad, billions for Iraq war good!). They have made it clear however, at least on the online Modesto Bee forums, that they don’t want any “Stormfronter” types showing up to their protest. This wish was not honored however, when DAAA Collective activists discovered that members on Stormfront were planning on attending the Save our State event in solidarity. (View that here: http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=301800).

This of course shook up Save Our State a lot, being that they were even angry that the flyer create by DAAA/Aztlan stated that SOS protests had been “supported by neo-Nazis”, in the past. This of course showed that neo-Nazi support for SOS is, and continues to be, the norm. With this black eye, Save our State posted up again on the Modesto Bee forums, (although not on the Save our State forums, why is unclear), a statement simply telling neo-Nazi groups not to show up. It also asked people to not bring signs that brought up ‘racial’ issues.

However, on the Modesto Bee forums recently, a Modesto Save Our State supporter had this to say about Chicano and Latino parents who allowed their kids to skip out of school in protest on May 1st. “[The march]…contained illegals and other criminals, the genetically stupid that let their kids miss school for the day and others all of whom didn't realize that they were hurting themselves more than anyone else." View the thread here: http://forums.modbee.com/viewtopic.php?t=8372

Save our State isn’t winning any points. First, they get angry that people make the connection between Nazis supporting them, and say that this is false. Then, Nazis in Modesto support them. Then, SOS states that while the Nazis might be racist, they aren’t, and then they go and write things like this. For those that believe in a united working class against white supremacy, capitalism, borders, and the state, we hope that if possible, you will join us in Modesto, helping to shut down these bastards!